wrote:
PS: If you want the USA nats to mirror the international
competitions, you also have to significantly increase the
task lengths so that we use the full day and minimize
start-gate roullette...

It does sound like the Europeans are still on final glide after most US
pilots have their gliders disassembled back in the trailers. It does
seem as the US comps are set up to only use the peak 2-3 hours of the
day, versus 3-5+ hours of the whole day's soaring weather used
elsewhere. Flying longer tasks in challenging weaker weather is
probably one factor why US pilots often place poorly in international
comps. [Look how well the British pilots do, they get a lot of
practice in weaker weather]

I hate to go to a regional and be assigned a 1.5 or 2 hour task if the
day can support more. I've asked the CD why can't we do some
challenging longer task. Charlie's reply: I have the younger guys
asking for longer tasks and then the older guys who complain about any
task longer than 2 hours - they just don't want to be in a cockpit that
long.

I looked at the two 2006 sports class regionals in region 5.
Perry was settled with 5.5 hours of task time, and Cordele with 10.3
hours of task time. For 6+ days that does not seem like many hours to
determine a winner.

I'm in favor of longer tasks, [but not so much that we drive away too
many competitors].

Chris